Famous Nowra
artist Leonard Long dies at 102

A prolific oils
landscape artist, he will be remembered for his generosity in donating
paintings (to many different organisations, to help raise funds) and for his
help to many young artists.

Although he left
Nowra in 1980 to live in Melbourne with his daughter and son-in-law, he is
widely regarded as one of Shoalhaven’s most successful artists and favourite
sons.

Renowned
worldwide, an officer of the Order of Australia (1993) and a genuine icon of
the Australian art community, Mr Long had work represented worldwide including
in the HRH The Queen Mother's Collection and The Vatican Collection Rome.

He also had works
in The Art Gallery of NSW, The Howard Hinton Collection Bunbury WA, The
National Gallery Kuala Lumpur, The Rockhampton Art Gallery Qld, The Dunedin Art
Gallery NZ, The Benalla Art Gallery Vic, The Broken Hill Art Gallery NSW and in
numerous commercial and private collections around the world.

Jacqui Gilmore,
whose brother Mike Thorne married Mr Long’s daughter Carmel, said he was a
special man.

Then South Coast Register
journalist Jeff Stephenson caught up with Mr Long in May 2011 when at 100 he
was preparing for his last solo exhibition and said he had no plans of slowing
down.

Mr Long said he
had fond memories of the district and most particularly the Shoalhaven River.

The river stands
out as one of his finest artistic achievements.

He and fellow
artist John Downton followed the river from where it rises “way up the other
side of Braidwood”.

“The two of us
followed the river right through the gorges and down to the sea,” he recalled
with the clarity of someone many years his junior.

“We did lots of
drawings and from that we produced 47 paintings for an exhibition in Nowra.

“All of them
sold.”

It was one of the
first exhibitions he had held and he and Mr Downton then embarked on an
Australia-wide crusade painting as many Australian landscapes as possible.

“We travelled on
and off for 15 years in a campervan,” Mr Long said.

“It was a great
experience – we had a fantastic time and we produced some wonderful work.”

Mr Long was born
the son of a baker in 1911 – on what was to become Anzac Day.

He was raised in
Mittagong and showed an early aptitude for drawing.

He painted his
first painting at 16 and started his working life as a watchmaker in Bowral.

“My mother saw an
advertisement for an apprentice watchmaker with an artistic temperament,” Mr
Long said.

“As soon as she
saw it she said, ‘Leonard, this is for you’.

“So I started
working with the watchmaker, WE Burchell, and he painted and he was quite good
and he encouraged me to continue to draw and paint.

“It was a
wonderful time.”

Mr Long moved to
Nowra for work and as a young man was also a prominent long-distance cyclist as
evidenced by his trips from Nowra back to Mittagong – 62 kilometres – to see
his sweetheart, Mary, whom he later married.

During his career
he held many successful solo exhibitions throughout Australia and travelled
extensively.

The American
millionaire John Galvin sponsored his first overseas trip and the experience
made a lasting impression on the artist.

He was one of the
first artists to paint the less accessible regions of Tasmania, being flown in
by light aircraft.

Funeral
arrangements for Mr Long, which will be staged in Melbourne, are yet to be
announced.